USA > Nebraska > Douglas County > Omaha > History of Omaha from the pioneer days to the present time > Part 20
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The next step was the selection of the eastern terminus of the road. At this time Omaha had no railroad what- ever, but there were three lines being built across the state of Iowa towards this point. The Burlington & Missouri, now the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, was in operation for one hundred miles westward from Burlington. The Mississippi & Missouri, now the Chicago & Rock Island, had reached Grinnell. The Chicago, Iowa & Nebraska, now the Chicago & Northwestern, was running to Marshall- town. Owing partly to the favorable location of Omaha, which was the objective point of the above roads, it was decided to make this city the initial point of the Union Pa- cific railroad, and on Wednesday morning, December 2, 1863, Peter A. Dey, the chief engineer, received a telegram from New York announcing that the president of the Uni- ted States had fixed the initial point of the road on the " western boundary of the State of Iowa, opposite Omaha- opposite section 10, in township fifteen, north of range thirteen, east of the sixth principal meridian, in the terri- tory of Nebraska."
It was decided at once to have a celebration and to break ground for the Union Pacific that very day. In less than an hour after the receipt of the telegram the following committee of arrangements was appointed.
Augustus Kountze, Enos Lowe, John McCormick, A. J. Hanscom, B. F. Lushbaugh, A. J. Poppleton, John I. Red- dick, Ezra Millard, E. Estabrook, E. B. Taylor, George M. Mills. W. F. Sapp, Jesse Lowe, O. P. Hurford, Edward Creighton, J. J. Brown. and George B. Lake. Mr. A. J.
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Hanscom was appointed president of the day. The com- mittee hastily arranged a programme of exercises, and fixed the hour for the ceremonies at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. It was a pleasant day, the sun shining brightly and the thermometer indicating 46 above zero.
At the hour named a crowd of about 1,000 people assem- bled and marched down to the place where the ground was to be formally broken. This spot was near the ferry land- ing and the " old telegraph poles," not far above the point where the Union Pacific shops are now located. This initial point of the Union Pacific has long since been washed away by the Missouri river, together with about one mile of the first track laid, which was included in the measurement of the first twenty miles. For this first mile, as well as for every mile, the Union Pacific received $16,000 and 12,000 acres of land.
A stage-coach belonging to the Western stage com- pany conveyed to the scene a number of prominent men, among the party being Edward Creighton, Governor Saunders, George Francis Train, Joseph Shepard, division superintendent of express (afterwards the general super- sintendent of the United States express), and Dr. Atchi- son, general stage agent at Omaha.
The exercises were opened with prayer by the Rev. T. B. Lemon. The first earth was removed by Governor Saun -. ders and Mayor B. E. B. Kennedy, of Omaha, and Mayor Palmer, of Council Bluffs, assisted by Augustus Kountze, Engineer Dey, George Francis Train, Dr. Atchison, and others. Guns were fired and deafening cheers arose from the assemblage. One brass six-pounder was stationed on the Nebraska bank of the Missouri river, and another was . located on the opposite bank, and during the exercises they were fired at frequent intervals.
Governor Saunders made the first speech. He then read a message from Colonel John Hay, private secretary to President Lincoln. Mayor Kennedy next spoke; and read a dispatch from Mayor Opdyke, of New York.
Speeches were also made by Dr. G. C. Monell and Hon. A. J. Poppleton, of Omaha; A. V. Larimer, of Council Bluffs ; George B Lake, George Francis Train, and others, all being listened to with a great deal of interest. Mr. Pop- pleton's speech was as follows :
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"FELLOW CITIZENS OF OMAHA AND COUNCIL BLUFFS :- On the 13th of October, 1854, about 7 o'clock in the evening, I was set down by the Western stage company at yonder city of Council Bluffs. At the rising of the sun on the fol- lowing morning I climbed to the summit of one of the bluffs which overlook that prosperous and enterprising town, and took one long and lingering look across the Missouri at the beautiful site on which now sits, in the full vigor of busi- ness, social and religious life, the youthful but thriving and this day jubilant city of Omaha. Early in the day I crossed the river, and along a narrow path cut by some stalwart man through the tall, rank prairie grass, I wended my way in search of the post-office. At length I found an old pioneer seated apparently in solitary rumination upon a piece of hewn timber, and I inquired of him for the post-office. He replied that he was the postmaster and would examine the office for my letters. Thereupon he removed from his head a hat, to say the least of it, somewhat veteran in appear- ance, and drew from its cavernous depths the coveted let- ters. On that day the wolves and the Omahas were the almost undisputed lords of the soil, and the entire postal system was conducted in the crown of this venerable hat ! To-day at least 4,000 radiant faces gladden our streets, and the postal service, sheltered by a costly edifice, strikes its Briarian arms towards the north, the south, the east and the west, penetrating regions then unexplored and unknown and bearing the symbols of values then hidden in the moun- tains and beneath the streams, of which the world in its wildest vagaries had never dreamed. Then it took sixty days for New York and California to communicate with each other. To-day San Francisco and New York, sitting upon the shores of the oceans, 3,000 miles asunder, hold familiar converse. Iron and steam and lightning are daily weaving their destinies more closely with each other and ours with theirs, as the inter-oceanic city, whose commerce, trade and treasures leave the last great navigable stream in their migration from the Atlantic to the Pacific seaboard. It is natural, therefore, that you should lift up your hearts and rejoice. And though we have watched for nine long years, during which our fortunes have been, like Antonio's treasures, 'mostly in expectancy,' we at last press the cup in full fruition to our lips. The lines have indeed 'fallen
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to us in pleasant places,' and, as I look upon the smiling faces before me, I seem to read in their happy expression the words of the pious poet :
" This is the day we long have sought,
And mourned because we found it not.'
" All this, however, is but the personal significance of this great national enterprise to us. To us it means pros- perity. To the nation and all its people it bears a signifi- cance well expressed in a telegram received from Governor Yates, of Illinois, which I am requested to read.
ST. NICHOLAS HOTEL, NEW YORK, December 1, 1863.
Committee of Arrangements, Union Pacific Railroad : To Major-General John A. Dix, Presi- dent of the Union Pacific Railroad Company:
SIR -- I have regarded the enterprise of building the Union Pacific railroad as of the utmost national importance. While in congress, when opportunity offered, I urged its necessity, and it is with peculiar pleasure that I learn that the building of the road, 80 long delayed, is to become a verity. When completed it will be an enduring monument of the enterprise and patriotism of our common country, firmly uniting the two ex- tremes of the nation, and rendering them indissoluble for all time to come.
I am, respectfully yours, RICHARD YATES.
"I esteem myself fortunate in thus being allowed to give expression to this concourse, the greeting of the state of Illinois, through its chief executive officer.
"In this hour of sanguinary struggles, when that great and union-loving state, through that most trusted, fortunate chieftain, General Ulysses S. Grant, is hurling its victorious sons into the very vitals of the so-called confederacy, she still finds time to turn aside for one brief moment and wish us God-speed in this wonderful work upon which we now enter.
"When those iron bands with which we hope to gird the continent shall stretch from sea to sea, they stand perpetual hostages against the terrible calamities of national estrange- ment. disruption and dismemberment. The act of congress establishing this great enterprise, should have been en- titled 'An act to promote the preservation of the union, to prevent national dissolution, and bind together the Atlantic and Pacific coasts by an indissoluble covenant, to resist and repel foreign aggression.' There is not on all the Mississippi and its tributaries, a citizen so craven but that were the free navigation of that noble stream, from its source to its mouth, denied him. he would achieve it with the sword. So will this highway of the world be the com-
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mon boon of every citizen, to be cherished and defended with special devotion.
"Standing here, at the initiation of this stupendous enter- prise, in this third year of our civil war, let us devoutly pray that the hour which witnesses its completion may behold a rebellion overthrown, a union restored, a constitution unim- paired, civil liberty, and the pursuit of happiness the inalienable birthright of the weakest. the poorest and the lowliest citizen in all our borders. Then with full hearts and bounding pulses we may renew the strain:
'Great God, we thank Thee for th's goodly home,
This bounteous birth-land of the free,
Where wonders from afar may come And breathe the air of liberty ;
Still may its flowers untrampled spring, Its harvest wave and cities rise-
And long 'till time shall fold his wing, Remain earth's loveliest paradise.'"'
The speech of George Francis Train upon this memor- able occasion was as follows:
"I have no telegraphic dispatches to read, no sentiments to recite. The official business is over, and as I happen to be lying around loose in this part of the country [laughter] at this particular time, it gives me a chance to meet some of the live men of Nebraska at the inauguration of the grandest enterprise under God, the world has ever witnessed. [Applause].
"America is the stage, the world is the audience of to- day. While one act of the drama represents the booming of cannon on the Rapidan, the Cumberland and the Rio Grande. sounding the death-knell of rebellious war, the next scene records the booming of cannon on both sides of the Missouri to celebrate the grandest work of peace that ever attracted the energies of man. The great Pacific railroad is commenced, and if you know the man who has hold of the affair as well as I do, no doubt would ever arise as to its speedy completion. The president shows good judgment in locating the road where the Almighty placed the signal sta- tion, at the entrance of a garden seven hundred miles in length and twenty broad. [Applause].
"Look at the force of nature here-study the map, and point out if you can, another place for the central station of the world's highway.
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"The enterprise is national. 'Tis the people's road. No party politics dare obtrude their obnoxious features into this organization. The directory is the agent of the government in carrying out the wishes of the nation. Four thousand years ago the pyramids were started, but they simply rep- resent the vanity of man. The Chinese wall was grand in conception, but built only to break the tide of invasion. The imperial canal was gigantic, but how limited all these things appear in comparison to an enterprise that joins to- gether thirty-four states and a dozen territories. [Applause].
" Before the first century of the nation's birth, we may see in the New York depot some strange Pacific railway notice.
" European passengers for Japan will please take the night train.
Passengers for China this way.
African and Asiatic freight must be distinctly marked: For Pekin via San Francisco. [Laughter and applause].
"'Ere ten years go by,' said one of the prime movers of this great undertaking, 'I intend to let the European traveler get a new sensation, by standing on the ridge pole of the American nation and sliding off into the sea. [Applause. ]
"Already late dates from the Chinese waters reach the European markets, via the Rocky mountains, and in 1870 teas and silks will follow in the same way. England laughs at this. So she laughs at our rebellion. England is not, never has been, and never will be the friend of America. Let England remain a bully, but God forbid that America continue to be a toady.
"America is a congress of nations.
"Here are a few stock points with which I have always interlarded my Fourth of July speech:
"That America possesses the biggest head and the finest quantity of brains in the phrenology of nations. [Applause.] That humanity, a puking babe in Asia, a lazy school boy in Europe, came here to America to air its magnifi- cent manhood. [Applause.] That industry came out of Egypt, then a tidal wave of time-giving law from Rome: more centuries, and art springs from France; later, commerce sails from England, while America was reserved to combine all the good of the past-industry, law, art, commerce, with
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the grander mission of representing the grand Pacific rail- way idea of progress. [Applause. ]
"America is twenty-one years of age. She should discharge the wet nurse. [Laughter.]
"I despise a toady. Let us build up a mother country of our own Let the cry go out-' Down with England and up with America" [Loud cheers.]
"When they spoke of our national debt I asked them what right England had to monopolize the entire national debt of the world. [Laughter.] I told them Deo volente that one of these days we would roll up a national debt that would make them ashamed of themselves. [Loud laughter and applause.] And while upon this point I may mention that the Pacific railway is but another name for a monster national prospecting party to open up the mines of · the mountains. One day a dispatch will come in, .We have tapped a copper mine ten miles square;' another day, ' We have just opened another vein of coal:' later on. 'We struck another iron mountain this morning,' when, Eureka! a telegram electrifies the speculators in Wall street, and gold drops below par. [Laughter.] 'At 10 o'clock this morning we struck a pick into a mountain of solid gold.' [Cheers] Now here is the idea. The moment this is done I shall hasten to Mr. Chase, to have him take possession of the government, organize a mining bureau, and arrange his plans to pay off the national debt without laying taxes upon the shoulders of the people. [Loud applause.] Mr. Chase's broad grasp of finance will seize at once the vitality of the idea. He will be pleased to learn that his greenbacks are as good as gold in this part of the world.
"The Pacific railroad is the nation and the nation is the Pacific railway. Labor and capital shake hands to-day. The lion and the lamb sleep together. The representatives of labor are all around me in the west. The represent- atives of capital are in the east. The two united make the era of progress. Steam, gas and electricity are the liberty, fraternity and equality of the people. Cavalry, infantry and artillery is only the Frenchman's motto. [Laughter.] The world is on the rampage. Events are earthquakes now. Two things are likely to happen about the time this railroad is completed. Two passengers-both Americans-take a special car over the route. One goes out as Punjaub of
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Mexico, the other as empress of China. [Cheers and laughter. ]
"America has built 40,000 miles of railroad for the same sum of money that England paid for her 10,000. Now congress passes a bill making the capital stock of the com- pany one hundred millions. That would have built the Great Eastern, the Thames tunnel, the tubular bridge, the Crystal palace. the mosque of Omok, Diana of the Ephe- sians, [laughter.] the Pyramids (if they used an American engine in hoisting the stone,) and Pompey's pillar. [Laugh- ter and cheers.] Congress gives something towards build- ing this great national thoroughfare-not much, but some- thing: say a loan of government credit for thirty years, for $16.000 a mile and 20,000,000 acres of land. But what is that in these times? Read statistics of what they did when the bill was signed.
"I have statistics that show these facts: Cost of eight New England roads, 1,112 miles, $35,000 per mile; cost of eight middle states roads, 4,120 miles, $42,500 per mile, cost of western roads, 4,488 miles, $37,000 per mile. These were built before the inflation of the currency. The last great road built. the Atlantic & Great Western, the middle link of the great broad-gauge track that covers half a continent, cost $46,000 per mile. These figures prove that congress ought to add the increased price of labor and material to the grant. The iron alone cost $10,000 per mile, and the rolling stock, ties, &c .. $6,000 more, leaving nothing for grading, bridges and stations. Fortunately, however, no one opposes the enterprise, however divided on other points. No party could live in opposition to opening up the heart of the country.
"My idea is that the shares, $1,000, are too high. They should be reduced to $100, and subscriptions should be opened in every town of 500 inhabitants. Let the laboring man have one share; make it the people's road in reality. Thousands would subscribe if the shares were reduced in price. [Applause.] Would you not recommend congress to do this? [Yes.] Well, congress will shortly be in session, and now is your time to act, for 100 miles of road must be opened by next fall, for I am told that 10,000 workmen will be at it in midsummer. [Loud applause.] Already the engineers are in the mountains and the geologists are prob-
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ing for the precious metals. Go into Creighton's office and see the one hundred and fifty pounds of gold a miner sent him from Idaho yesterday. [Applause.] *
Immigration will soon pour into these valleys. Ten millions of emigrants will settle in this golden land in twenty years. If I had not lost all my energy, ambition and enterprise, I would take hold of this immigration scheme, but the fact is I have gone too fast, and to-day am the best played-out man in the country. [Laughter.] However, if the pope knew I was out here I believe he would send me a com- mission to establish a Catholic colonization society on a nine hundred thousand dollar lot in the Platte valley.
" While already America possesses one-half the common sense, three-fourths the enterprise, and seven-eighths the beauty of the world [loud cheers], can anyone doubt, in look- ing at the geological position of the prairie land, that Amer- ica was the old world when Europe, Asia and Africa were merely islands that dotted the eastern seas. The deluge theory of Asia Minor is absurd. They cut a little channel in ancient times between Asia and Europe-the Dardenelles -and elevating the Mediterranean by turning the Black and Caspian seas, the water overflowed Syria and the ark grounded, but in our time Noah could not get command of a one-horse gun boat, or a military prison. [Loud laughter]. Stand high up on the summit of this continent and you will see when the grand deluge covered the world. One wave made the Rocky mountains and then the Alleghanies, leav- ing one thousand miles of five feet prairie soil to raise corn for the starving world. [Applause.] One portion of the water wound its way by the Missouri and the Mississippi to the sea, and another by way of the St. Lawrence, the At- lantic ocean deposing those inland seas of fresh water, Lakes Michigan, Huron, Superior, Ontario and Erie, along the road and making a plateau of boundless prairie, ex- pressly for the track of the great Union Pacific railway of America. [Loud cheers.] One more stock idea. As sure as the rainbow is the autograph of God, the Union must and shall be preserved. [Applause.] Man has made these great lines of railway to run east and west, but God, thinking man might blunder, was His own topographical engineer, and took the precaution to build the mountains and the rivers north and south, and what God has put together let
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no ambitious plebian in the north or rebel traitor in the south dare to tear asunder." [Loud cheers.]
Upon the conclusion of Mr. Train's speech the crowd dispersed, being well satisfied with the afternoon's proceed- ings, an account of which was telegraphed to eastern papers by Mr. Train and Mr. E. Rosewater.
In the evening the city was brilliantly illuminated, and a grand railroad banquet and ball took place at the Hern- don house, which has since become the headquarters of the Union Pacific. There were in attendance about seventy-five couples. Supper was served at 1:30. George Francis Train was among the guests. He was then a fine-looking man, about five feet ten inches in height, of rather corpulent build. blue eyes, prominent nose, and dark curly hair, streaked here and there with gray. He appeared to be about thirty- five years of age. His talk impressed his hearers as being rather extravagant, but it was pleasant to listen to him as he was a fine speaker. Dispatches of congratulation and encouragement were received and read from Brigham Young, from the mayor of Denver, and from Governor Stanford, of California, and also from Hon. William H. Seward, Governor Yates, of Illinois, and other prominent men. Thus ended the 2d of December, 1863, one of the most important and eventful days in the history of Omaha and Nebraska
Early in the spring of 1864 active work was begun on the construction of the Union Pacific railroad, contracts having been let for the work for 100 miles west to a point in the Platte valley. from which surveys were continued to the 100th meridian. After about $100,000 had been spent on the due westerly course, it was abandoned, because it was claimed that it was too hilly to allow the road to be com- pleted for a distance of 100 miles to save the charter, which required that that much of the road should be finished be- tween the Missouri river and the 100th meridian within three years after the filing of the company's assent to the organic law, filed June 27, 1863.
Two new routes were then surveyed, one to the north and thence west; and the other to the south, nearly to Bellevue, and thence northwest and west. The latter route was called the "ox-bow," and was chosen by the company, notwithstanding the violent opposition of the people of
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Omaha, who had great fears that the company intended to cross the Missouri river at Bellevue, and leave Omaha out in the cold. The greatest anxiety existed at Omaha at this time. Everything was finally harmoniously settled, how- ever, and upon the abandonment of the idea of starting from Bellevue, Omaha breathed easy once again.
The grading was once more pushed rapidly forward, following the "ox-bow" route, and the laying of the track followed almost as fast. The ties for the road from Omaha to the Platte valley were obtained from the Missouri river bottom lands. Being of cottonwood they were put through the "Burnetizing process," which made them impervious to weather and animal or vegetable parasites. The ties for the remainder of the road were of hard wood, and were ob- tained from Michigan, Pennsylvania and other distant states, and frequently cost as high as $2.50 per tie, laid down in Omaha.
Some idea of the difficulty and cost of constructing the Union Pacific may be gained from the fact that there was a break in railroad communication between Omaha and Des Moines, a distance of 133 miles, and consequently every- thing had to be transported by teams from that point, or steamboats up the Missouri. The company employed six large steamboats on the Missouri for the transportation of material, in addition to hundreds of teams between Des Moines and Omaha. The company started their shops in Omaha soon after beginning the work of building the rail- road, completing them in the fall of 1865. The seventy- horse-power engine for the shops was transported by wagons from Des Moines. The shops now consist of a dozen or more large and substantial structures. They give employment to about 1,000 men.
The completion of the first fifteen miles of track of the Union Pacific was celebrated by an excursion from Omaha. Thomas C. Durant, who got up the excursion, took a loco- motive and a flat car and invited about twenty prominent gentlemen to go with him on the first inspection trip to the end of the track at Sailing's Grove. Among the excursion- ists were General Sherman and Hon. A. J. Poppleton. It was an enthusiastic party. and as the commissary de- partment was well supplied, the gentlemen enjoyed themselves. General Sherman, who was called upon
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for a speech, related his experience in sinking several thousand dollars, years before, in California, in an effort to start the Pacific railroad. He reviewed the dream of other days, and concluded with the expression of a hope that he might live to see the day, but could scarcely expect at his age, when the two oceans would be united by a com- plete Pacific railroad. General Sherman has, contrary to his expectations, lived to see that day, and has traveled over the complete Pacific railroad uniting the two oceans. He went over the road in less than four years from the day he took the trip to Sailing's Grove.
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